That foreman on the Hudson job told me my trowel technique was wasting mortar

I was slapping the mud on too thick and spreading it out too wide, after he showed me to keep my trowel at a steeper angle and only butter the center third of each brick, I cut my mortar waste by nearly 25 percent on that project and the wall came out flatter, has anyone else gotten yelled at about their trowel grip and actually made a change?

2 comments

2 Comments

avery36613d ago

Funny thing about that trowel grip, I've seen older masons change their grip completely after a wrist injury forces them to, and suddenly they swear by the new way even though they fought it for years. The real secret nobody talks about is how the angle of your trowel changes the air pocket under the mud, which is what actually causes those hollow spots that waste material. Did you notice any difference in how the mortar stuck to the brick after you switched your angle?

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kellyj2313d ago

Man, I gotta say, the air pocket thing makes so much sense now that you mention it. I switched from a 45 degree angle to more of a 30 degree angle after messing with it on a job last month, and I noticed way less mortar sliding off the brick face. It also seemed to pack in tighter on the joints, so I bet that's what cut down on the hollow spots I was wasting mud on. Did you find a specific angle that worked best for you, or was it more about the wrist twist on the handle?